Central heat directing guide for cigarette lighters



Jan. 11, 1955 Y. H. KURKJIAN 2,699,486

CENTRAL HEAT DIRECTING GUIDE FOR CIGARETTE LIGHTERS Filed Aug. 8, 1952 5 HEATING ELEMENT INVENTOR XmvA/v 1' H K/fiKJ/A N s ATTORNEY United States Patent CENTRAL HEAT DIRECTING GUIDE FOR CIGARETTE LIGHTERS Yervant H. Kurkjian, Clifton, N. J., assignor to Kurk Products Co., Clifton, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application August 8, 1952, Serial No. 303,379

2 Claims. (Cl. 219-32) This invention relates to a central heat directing guide for a smoking article lighter and has for one of its objects the production of a guard for a smoking article lighter which will direct heat from the lighter to a central point of the guard and out through a central aperture so as to ignite the tobacco at the center of the smoking article and thereby prevent the premature burning of the wrapper of the smoking article and thereby prevent burned particles of tobacco from dropping from the lighter upon the clothes of the user or dropping upon other articles which might catch on fire.

A further object of this invention is the production of a simple and efiicient heat directing cone-shaped guide having vents for directing a draft toward a central opening in a manner whereby heat from a smoking article lighter will be directed and concentrated toward the center of the smoking article and thereby prevent burned particles of tobacco from dropping from the lighter.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear throughout the following specification and claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the smoking article lighter showing my improved central heat directing guide applied thereto;

fFigure 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view there- 0 Figure 3 is a front view thereof;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 44 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view taken on line 55 of Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the lighter and guide, the guide being detachable;

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the detachable guide;

Figure 8 is a side elevational view partly in section, illustrating a further modified form of the invention.

By referring to the drawing in detail, it will be seen that 10 designates a conventional lighter such as is used in automobiles and the like, having a lighting element 11 of the conventional type. A heat guiding or smoking article abutment plate 12 is carried by the outer heat element carrying end of the lighting element, and this plate 12 is inwardly dished or cone-shaped having a smooth outer face, the outer edge flared to locate the inner central portion thereof inwardly relative to the outer edge 13. A heat discharge aperture 14 is formed centrally of the plate 12 so as to be in close relation to the heating element 11. The plate 12 is provided with slots or vents 15 at the periphery thereof to vent the area between the plate 12 and the heating element 11, and to provide lateral vents through which air may be drawn toward the central aperture 14. The heat guiding plate may be formed as an integral part of the lighting element as is shown in Figures 1 and 5.

It should be understood that the plate 12 preferably is deeply dished and the central aperture 14 is relatively small so as to surround only the central portion of a cigarette or other smoking article which is placed against the plate 12, and to permit the cigarette paper or wrapper to surround the aperture 14 at a distance radially from aperture 14. In this way, the wrapper of the smoking article is out of contact with the heating element and the wrapper contacts a wrapper engaging area beyond the aperture. Consequently the wrapper will not prematurely burn and permit particles of burning tobacco to drop upon the clothes of the user or upon other articles and catch the same on fire.

2,699,486 Patented Jan. 11, 1955 The vents 15 will also tend to reduce the temperature of the plate since air passing through the vents 15 and under the plate will tend to cool the surface of the plate 12 in view of the fact that the heating element is flat and the under face of the plate 12 flares away from the heating element thereby spacing the outer edge of the plate a greater distance from the heating element than the central aperture thereof in funnel-like spaced relation to the heating element. This will decrease the chance of overheating. It will be noted that the radially spaced connecting strips 15 of the plate 12 define the vents 15 therebetween and because of the venting of the plate, the temperature of the plate is held at a minimum to reduce the possibility of burned particles of tobacco sticking to the plate 12 when removing the smoking article after lighting and to reduce the possibility of said burning particles from dropping upon the users clothing, the seats of an automobile, and the like.

As is shown in Figures 6 and 7, the heat guiding plate 12 is dished inwardly and is provided with a central aperture 14 A notched spring ring 16 is carried rearwardly of the plate 12 and is adapted to snap over the outer bead 17 of the lighter 10 as shown in Figure 6 to detachably secure the plate 12 to the bead 17. The plate 12 is held in spaced relation to the notched spring ring 16 by means of the connecting strips 18, thereby defining radial vents 19 between the plate 12 and the ring 16. These vents 19 act in a similar manner to the vents 15.

It should be understood that the heat guiding plate may be either a fixed part of the lighter as shown in Figure 5, or it may be detachable, as shown in Figures 6 and 7, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

As is shown in Figure 8, the heat guiding plate 20 may be formed straight in place of being concave or inwardly dished, as shown in Figure 3, if desired. The plate 20 is provided with radial vents 21 rearwardly of the plate 20 similar to the vents 15, and a central aperture 22 is formed in the plate 20 similar to the aperture 14, the aperture 22 being of a smaller diameter than the cigarette to provide a wrapper contact area radially of the aperture 22. The plate 20 may be integrally connected to the lighter 23 by means of the strips 24 or the plate may be made detachable in a manner similar to the structure shown in Figures 6 and 7.

Having described the invention, what I claim as new is:

1. A heat guiding plate for a smoking article lighting element, said plate having a smooth outer face inwardly dished and having the outer edge thereof flared to locate the inner central portion thereof inwardly relative to its outer edge, said central portion of said plate having a heat discharge aperture formed centrally thereof to locate the aperture close to a lighting element, said plate having rearwardly extending radially spaced connecting strips defining vents between the strips to ventilate the under face of the plate and to thereby maintain temperature of the plate at a minimum to reduce the possibility of burned particles of tobacco sticking to the plate when removing a smoking article after lighting, and means engaging said connecting strips for securing said strips to a lighting element to hold the plate in funnel-like spaced relation to a lighting element.

2. A heat guiding plate for a smoking article lighting element, said plate having a smooth outer face inwardly dished and having the outer edge thereof flared to locate the inner central portion thereof inwardly relative to its outer edge, said central portion of said plate having a heat discharge aperture formed centrally thereof to locate the aperture close to a lighting element, said plate having rearwardly extending radially spaced connecting strips defining vents between the strips to ventilate the under face of the plate and to thereby maintain temperature of the plate at a minimum to reduce the possibility of burned particles of tobacco sticking to the plate when removing a smoking article after lighting, and a means carried by said connecting strips for detachably securiilig the heat guiding plate to a smoking article lighting e emen (References on following page) References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Clark Dec. 14, 1920 4 Bate May 11, 1926 Trapet Nov. 30, 1926 Hermann Oct. 4, 1927 Lucia Aug. 18, 1931 Bach Feb. 6, 1934 Ellis Nov. 7, 1950 

